Samsung Delivers First Olympic-Inspired Phone

(ATR) Samsung executives tell Around the Rings the Rio 2016 special edition Galaxy S7 was designed to match the sporting feats of Olympians.

For the first time ever the TOP Sponsor designed a smartphone to coincide with the Olympic Games. All Olympic athletes will receive the special edition phone, along with the newly designed Icon Gear X, a fully integrated wireless bluetooth headset designed to track athletic activity.

"Our slogan is ‘defy barriers,’ so that is what we are thinking in every product and technology we are bringing to market," Renato Citrini, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Samsung Brazil," said to ATR. "The barriers that athletes have to go through to reach the Olympic Games, that’s what we think every day when we designing our products."

Citrini said that the Galaxy S7 was chosen for the special Olympic edition because of how ubiquitous smartphones have become in our everyday lives in the past four years. The growth of smartphone technology in the past four years played into the inspiration behind the phone, which was "creating harmony among people and countries present."

Five countries -- Brazil, China, Germany, Korea, and the United States -- will also sell 2016 units of the smartphone, each individually numbered. Pre-orders for the phone are being accepted as of today, with the units available on July 18.

The retail price for the special edition Galaxy S7 is $1,349, while the Icon Gear X will retail for $419. The Galaxy S7 comes with a wireless charge and a display box to showcase the phone. The phone contains the five colors of the Olympic Rings, black, blue, green, red, and yellow, and has the Rings showcased on the back cover.

An added bonus of the new Samsung smartphone is the ability to interface with the company’s virtual reality efforts.

Executives told reporters that all Samsung Galaxy S7 phones will be able to stream virtual reality content from the Olympic Games through Olympic Broadcast Services, with purchase of the company’s VR headset.

Consumers who purchase a Samsung Galaxy S7 or VR headset from now until the Olympic Games will be entered in a raffle from which they can win one of 777 special edition Olympic phones.

During the Olympics Samsung will have activation zones on Copacabana Beach, in the Olympic Park, and in the Main Press Center. In addition, select shopping malls in Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, and Sao Paulo will have installations to promote the new products.

Another first for the company will be the sale of specially designed pins in the design of Samsung phones highlighting the different Olympic sports. The company the pins are a "social currency" of the Olympic Games, connecting people from around the world, which inspired the set’s creation.

Written by Aaron Bauerin Sao Paulo.

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